Oil Spill In Nigeria: Shell Faces Legal Battle In Europe

ANGLO-Dutch oil and gas super major,
Shell, will appear in a Dutch court to account for damage it
caused in Nigeria. This is the first time in history, an
European company is appearing in a Dutch court.

Friends of
the Earth International (FoEI) made this known to
AkanimoReports in an online statement on Sunday.

The court
case against Shell's oil spills in Nigeria has been filed by
four Nigerian plaintiffs in conjunction with Friends of the
Earth Netherlands and supported by Friends of the Earth
Nigeria.

Lawyers for both parties will plea at a key
hearing in The Hague this coming October 11, at 9:30am. The
verdict is however, expected early in 2013.

''Due to the poor maintenance of pipelines
and factories, Shell let tens of millions of barrels of oil
leak in the Niger Delta, with disastrous consequences for
local people and the environment. The Anglo Dutch oil giant
must now stop its pollution, compensate the damage and
prevent more oil spills from happening'', he adds.

Geert
Ritsema and Hans Berkhuizen, the director of Friends of the
Earth Netherlands, are conducting a fact-finding mission in
Nigeria which began on September 27 through October
2.

''Nigerians have to sue Shell in The Netherlands to
obtain justice. Meanwhile Shell uses the threat of legal
action to attempt to silence legitimate protests, for
instance the recent Greenpeace protests against Shell in
Europe. They pollute with impunity, destroy livelihoods and
block dissent. This is deplorable," says Nnimmo Bassey,
Executive Director of Friends of the Earth Nigeria and Chair
of FoEI.

''We want to see an end to the corporate crimes
committed by oil giants like Shell in Nigeria and around the
world'', he adds.

In May 2008, four Nigerian fishermen and
farmers from the villages of Goi, Ikot Ada Udo and Oruma, in
conjunction with Friends of the Earth Netherlands /
Milieudefensie and supported by Friends of the Earth Nigeria
/ ERA, started a legal case against Shell Nigeria and its
parent company in the Netherlands.

The Hague court
hearing will take place just 10 days after a key [October
1st] hearing of the US Supreme court regarding a separate
lawsuit 'Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Shell Petroleum' brought by
Nigerian refugees in the U.S. accusing Shell of helping the
Nigerian military to systematically torture and kill
environmentalists in the 1990s.

The serious
contamination of the oil rich Niger Delta has had disastrous
consequences for the local people and their environment. oil
leaks regularly pollute the fields, forests and water. These
leaks are a heavy burden on agriculture and
fishing.

''Since the spill I have lost most of my income.
Now we live from hand to mouth: sometimes I go into the
bush, sometimes a company gives me a day’s work for 500
Naira [3 euro]'', says one of the four plaintiffs, Alali
Efanga from Oruma (Bayelsa State) in Nigeria.

Shell is the
operator of Nigeria's largest oil fields and bears
significant responsibility for the oil pollution. The UN,
among others, has stated that Shell does not comply with
legal environmental standards and has failed to clean up
leaked oil – or has done so only insufficiently, for
decades. Moreover, Shell’s own sustainability report
stated that the number of leaks due to poor maintenance
doubled in 2011, rising from 32 to 64.

In May 2012 FoEI
delivered some 70,000 signatures to Shell CEO Peter Voser
from people who want Shell to start cleaning up its mess in
the oil-rich and highly polluted Niger Delta in Nigeria.

The signatures were collected by the organisation SumOfUs
in close cooperation with Friends of the Earth and Amnesty
International.

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